High school friends reconnect at 100
|Published
Selwyn Lurie and his wife Barbara on his100 birthday celebration in August last year. Lurie was able to reconnect with Leonard Baumann who he had lost contact with. SUPPLIED
Durban - An article recently published by the Sunday Tribune has helped two longlost friends, both centenarians, in different parts of the world to reconnect. Former Durban man Selwyn Lurie, who lives in California in the US, was able to find his friend, Leonard Baumann, when this newspaper featured Baumann last month.
Baumann, of the Bakers franchise fame, and Lurie had schooled together at Durban High School (DHS). They were both in the same class in 1937. Lurie was born and bred in Durban and went on to serve as a combat fighter pilot in World War II in two campaigns against the Germans and Japanese, as well as building a new town in Israel to welcome the survivors.
Lurie volunteered to join the Allied Forces against Germany and Japan. He was trained in South Africa and served with the Royal Air Force, flying the single-seater British Hurricane in the North African campaign against the Germans in 1939.
He was later transferred to the Burma campaign in which he flew another single-seater, the American P-47, against the Japanese. “An enemy has never shot me down, nevertheless, I have survived an astonishing five crashes caused by adverse weather conditions and mechanical problems.
My last crash, where I successfully belly-landed on a P-47 aircraft at 170 miles an hour without wheels and flaps, earned me an award,” said Lurie. After the war, he pursued a career in accounting and in 1955 met his wife, Barbara, who was his PA at the time.
They married in Durban and later had three children, Doron, Micheal and Adina. “My last 21 years in the business world were in the textile manufacturing industry in Durban. I became CEO of one of South Africa’s leading companies with factories throughout Southern Africa and a workforce of 35 000 employees. “I was also appointed as a chairman of the South African Textile Manufacturers Association and as justice of the peace by the South African government,” he said.
Lurie said he had played a role in South Africa’s peaceful transition from apartheid into a democracy, giving FW de Klerk considerable help “during that turbulent time in our country’s history”. In their retirement, the Luries remained in their community and were among the founding members of the first Jewish Orthodox congregation in Carmel Valley in California.
On the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary, they donated a new Sefer Torah from Israel. “When I saw the article about Leonard, it brought back old memories dating back to my time in South Africa. I have received a warm and very interesting reply from Len Baumann and thank you so much for making possible contact between us,” said Lurie.
Baumann also had fond memories of Lurie. “The two of us were in the same classroom together at Durban High School. Our form master at DHS in 1937 was Charlie Evans. I remember at the close of class, he asked the members of our form to line up and roll up our trousers above our knees.
“He said that he had been asked to provide two heralds to lead a procession at all the schools. “He then asked Selwyn Lurie and me to step forward and chose the two of us, because he said we had nice legs suitable for the stockings worn by heralds at that time.
“The two lads from the other school were from Glenwood. After that incident, we lost touch,” said Baumann
SUNDAY TRIBUNE